The attentional bias towards threat in posttraumatic stress disorder: Evidence from eye movement studies

Abstract

Attentional bias towards threat is a common phenomenon in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) individuals. A number of studies have investigated the processing characteristics and internal mechanisms of attentional bias by using eye-movement technology. Results are inconsistent about components of attentional bias, but still provide evidences for different models, such as vigilance-avoidance model and attentional maintenance model. Based on eye-movement patterns from different dimensions, the future studies should pay attention to the model building and integration while recording the eye movements of PTSD individuals. Furthermore, researchers could combine multiple technologies to investigate the threat attention bias mechanism of PTSD individuals from a multimodal perspective.

Attentional Bias of Individuals with Social Anxiety towards Facial and Somatic Emotional Cues in a Holistic Manner

“…Attention bias refers to the differential allocation of attention by individuals towards emotional or threatening stimuli compared to neutral stimuli [ 4 ]. In previous research, attention bias components primarily include facilitated attention or vigilance, difficulty in disengaging attention, and avoidance of certain stimuli [ 5 ]. The expression of threat information refers to directing some form of hostility towards the viewer, with anger being the most prominent example.…”